eurotrip!

So this update goes out to all those faithful followers who have been checking to see if i have finally written something new.  In my defense, ihave a couple of drafts over the last month or so, but clearly i have failed in updating regularly.  still.

currently in montenegro, which is the very last new country of my trip (unless you count france, which i have already been to (twice on this trip..., and i'm flying out of charles de gaulle after all).  i'm a little sad that it's all coming to an end but i am looking forward to being back on campus this winter.  in the end, very satisfied.

i have definitely not been disappointed by any part of my travels so far (with the possible exception of florence, but michelangelo and Machiavelli et al made up for that).  while in madrid, i got to make the most of spain (barcelona for a week total time, salamanca for a crazy 30 hours, bilbao for the museo, san sebastian, granada for an intense day trip, sevilla with the entire stanford crew, la rioja for wine tasting and Bing dinner, comillas, burgos and leon for orientation trip).  i also got to make a few trips out of the country, to Lisbon, Morocco and Amsterdam.

and yes, i have been speaking spanish by accident (especially in berlin...it got embarrassing) though occasionally it works to get rid of annoying people, since almost no one speaks it in this area of europe (who knew that spanish would be the useless language of my vocabularly?).

since leaving madrid, i have been to paris (for a few hours, to drop off my luggage), berlin, prague, budapest, ljubljana, zagreb, dubrovnik, mostar and currently kotor.  basically, a lot of countries, a lot of traveling and a lot of really awesome people along the way (and a few souvenirs too).

berlin had the best and cheapest food, really cool underground scenes, kebabs!, snow, east/west tensions/history, train stations, fragments of the walls, and one of my favorite people ever (lauren and i had a great time).

prague was the most beautiful (man-made beautiful).  all the monuments were absolutely gorgeous, and the christmas market in the main square was so pretty.  the famous bridge, the castle, the realllllly cool clock tower were all great.  plus, found a very good vegetarian restaurant to try czech cuisine (and grog).   was vaguely sickly so didn't go out much at night because got worn out from trudging around in the snowstorm, but it was nice to sit in the warmth and watch movies.

budapest was a lot of fun.  the train ride in was rough (8.5 hours turned into 12.5 hours) but the hostel was great and i enjoyed the nightlife a lot.  the art bars were incredible and found a really awesome club that played dubstep all night long.  terror house was very moving to see.  additionally, trip was made by the 3.5 hours i spent soaking in the thermal baths/saunas.  mmmm soooo good.

ljubljana was quite an adventure!  had such a great time.  the city absolutely transformed at night and the hostel we were staying at was my favorite.  it was a former prison so i got to stay in cell 101.  and it was in the art commune area of the city.  totally bought a ton of souvenirs to remember the hostel.  also, did not sleep while i was there, at all...but when i did make it to my bunk bed, it was very comfy (or else i was too tired to notice).  slovenia was surprisingly a highlight.

croatia!!!  going back to it tomorrow actually.  enjoyed zagreb and could not get over how incredibly beautiful dubrovnik is.  wow.  my memory card can't handle any more.  and of course, we were told that we need to come back in the summer when its even more incredibly amazing.

had a christmas day trip to bosnia, where we visited the most heavily bombed city, mostar, which was moving to see.  there are still many destroyed/battered buildings, though the ancient and famous bridge has been reconstructed.  in general, it was very beautiful in its own way.  we did get trapped in the city overnight but found sufficient housing and clearly survived.

currently in kotor, montenegro.  eugene and i parted ways (he headed to sarajevo) but i am very glad that i made it to montenegro.  cannot get over the natural beauty of this place (and neither can my camera...)  Spent the afternoon climbing the fortress on the mountain top overlooking the Stari Grad (Old Town).  Though tiny, kotor is quite magical.

so yeah, that's the quick run down of life so far.  my passport has been busy.  found a ride back from kotor to dubrovnik so heading there tomorrow around 10AM and then off to paris early morning thursday...

Update

So, in the process of midterms right now.  Still can't believe its that time in the quarter.  So here's a brief summary of my life so far:

-Love the art here.  May or may not be living in the museums.  Thyssen was SUCH a treat and of course it helps that the Reina Sofia and the Prado are free at times.  Also, really fond of the free exhibition hall, CaixaForum.  But still have a ton more museos to visit.  I def need to step it up.  In other news, found this great little market with a delicious cheese stand...will be returning often to eat tapas and try cheeses.
-Granada was awesome.  Went for a day trip (6 hour bus ride during the night, arrived at 7 AM, set off without a map as the sun rose at 7:30 AM...walked for about 12 straight hours and then returned home at like, 2 AM to Madrid).  Huge fan of the Moorish quarters.  Did get accosted by gypsies but i was prepared.  Also, saw lots of pretty things, and the Alhambra is, as always, amazing.
-El Escorial was a super cute day trip.  Had a blast going with my friends.  Thankfully, was less walking than Granada was.
-Toledo was amazing.  Fell in love.  Also, bought a sword.  hahahaha.  well, more like a dagger.  Toledo is known for its sword-craftsmenship so it was totally justified.  Also, love that we saw a lot of El Greco and it was on the Don Quixote route (La Mancha).
-Portugal was an unexpected treat.  Kinda fucked up my Halloween weekend plans, and decided last minute to go to Lisbon.  Did not expect to absolutely love it.  What a treat...when it wasn't pouring.  Unfortunately, it was pretty bad weather.  But despite that, got to see the castle (and a really trippy sunset), the cathedral, the twin of the Golden Gate bridge, the twin of the Christ statue in Brazil, some awesome monuments (a UNESCO world heritage site) like a Tower, a Monastery and a huge monument to honor Vasco de Gama, and all the really cool plazas around the city.  It was a pretty successful trip.  ---Returned to Madrid for Halloween night at PACHA with Sarah, which was obviously awesome.  Reaaaally glad i decided to splurge on a good night out though.  Got robbed in front of my house as i was about to get home which really shook me up (though i honestly wasn't scared at the time...just angry, and confused.  Luckily the thief was a coward and i didn't have any money/things of value besides 3 euros (thank you, Pacha, for having a ridiculously pricey cover), a paper copy of my passport, my ISIC card and my monthly metro pass, which the guy can't even use).  Ugh.
-Morocco, Amsterdam, Bilbao, Barcelona lie in the future.  I'm so excited.  Hoping to also get a chance to get to Rome, but that might be too much of a stretch.  Otherwise, Eastern Europe and Paris it is for December!

ESPANA

Hahah so total fail on my part for updating the blog often.  Oops.  And I even have internet in my room, so no excuses.  Oh well.

Since last time... Barcelona was AMAZING.  well, obviously.  I spent half the time wandering around (from the Gothic Quarter to the port, to the Parc Guell) and the other half in museums/Gaudi's houses.  In other news, Gaudi is the shit and I highly recommend visiting Casa mila and casa battlo if you have time, because the architecture is just awesome.  It was also super amusing to walk down Las Ramblas and watch all the street performers do their thing.  We lucked out and were living in a hotel right by the huge market, so we got lots of fresh fruit, plus we randomly found tons of vegetarian (or veg-friendly) restaurants in Barcelona, so we ate very well (paella, tapas, curry, etc).  I'll be back in Barcelona for Thanksgiving, so I'm looking forward to it.

After literally sprinting (with suitcases) to catch the AVE to Madrid, I finally started to wrap my mind around the fact that I would be in Europe for the rest of 2010.  Ok, maybe I still haven't fully been able to accept this, but I started to, anyway.  Arriving in Madrid after four years have gone by was fascinating.  It's probably the first time I've ever returned to a place I have previously visited, and it was like nothing had changed.  I could still recognize that weird sweeper statue in the plaza near Sol, the flags decorating Calle Arenal, the glass front of the Reina Sofia, etc.  After one night that was spent reacquainting myself with Stanford friends, we were off to our Orientation trip, aka long bus ride to the north of Spain (basically back in the same direction i had just come from.  oops)

Comillas was pretty awesome because we were right on the beach and I spent the first day and night frolicking in the waves (apparently it was cold?  i thought it was refreshing). And of course, went skinny dipping, because that's what the Mediterranean is there for, after all.  I may have lost some clothes in the ocean but these things happen.  It was worth it.  After the first day, the weather more or less sucked, so there was plenty of sight-seeing in the rain.  We saw 6 churches in 3 days (saw some wood from Jesus' cross at one), another one of Gaudi's works (that I had never heard of before!), and went on a boat ride.  We also did a pretty awesome, if wet, hike in the Picos de Europa (the highest mountains in Spain), and ran into some sheep too.  It was a shame that the weather was just so awful, but I still had a really good time.

For the final part of the orientation trip, we got to stay in what was basically a palace, in Leon.  Leon was a really fun area, with a beautiful cathedral, addicting potato chips and excellent tapas (and wine).  We also finally got really good food (as vegetarians, the food served to us was questionable) in a CAVE.  And on the way home we stopped for chocolate and churros.  Key to my heart, Spain.  Well done.

The vegetarian table...we were segregated.  But well fed.

Our HOTEL.  YEAH thats right.  So much love to the Bings for their generosity.

The cathedral in Leon

After a nerve-wracking wait, we finally met our host mom.  I have to say, I think Savannah (my fabulous roomie!) and I really lucked out because we got the best deal.  Our host mom is AWESOME and an amazing cook on top of it.  After an awkward first meal (she didn't know we were vegetarians and made us meat...) we moved into our cozy room and passed out.  Our home is in a pretty area, not super exciting, but very centrally located: close to the Institute where our Stanford classes are, on a pretty great subway line (line 2) and walkable from Sol/party areas.  It really does feel like home here.  Plus, I get to drag Savannah to all the museos with me.  So far, we've done the Reina Sofia, Thyssen, Prado, Palacio Real, and CaixaForum.

GUERNICA!!!!!!!!  How incredible it was to be standing in that room.  Good thing I can return often.

Home sweet home!  <3 

After attending basically every single class offered (except for one that I had to be talked out of shopping...Literature), and a lot of internal struggling, I finally picked my classes.  It was interesting to note that I basically did not take most of the classes that I thought i would.  Originally thinking I would take flamenco, the 2 IR classes and the Service Learning class, I am currently taking one IR class (Cultural Change in Espana, focus on the mentality of people during and since Franco, including racism, the separatist movements, and identity), flamenco, Art and Spanish.  The Econ class would have been incredibly hard for me even if it was in English, so it was pretty easy to figure out that it wasn't the right one for me (though I did learn that GDP=PIB in spanish).  Flamenco was pretty entertaining, even if it was at 9, and I love taking dance classes anyway.  I really liked the Cine class but I decided not to take it because I had other options that were better for me, and I only had 1 class left in my schedule to chose (IR, spanish and flamenco=12 units and my limit was 17 units here).

Apparently, Spanish was required, not that they told us beforehand.  I wouldn't mind normally, (even though its at 9 AM) but there's a ton of homework that  I've gotten a bit frustrated with after having to cancel plenty of plans to go to parks, wander the streets, or hit the Prado for the free hours every day (6-8 PM, how awesome is that?). I mean, I do realize that we are supposed to be doing actual work here, but its really hard to concentrate on writing ensayos on journalism (?) when I want to be roaming around Cheuca instead.  I actually enjoy the activities and homework that make me discover more about the history and culture of the city/country (such as my investigation into Euskera and Basque culture), but most of our work isn't really interesting.  Ok, rant over.  Haha.

In picking classes, I especially struggled to decide if I wanted to take the Internship/Service Learning class because I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to volunteer, but in the end, the choices just weren't as appealing to me.  I wanted to work in education and the few opportunities in this area were mostly teaching English, which wasn't exactly what I was looking for.  In the end, I decided to take the amazing art class offered.  What a wonderful decision.  I struggle to make my art look anywhere close to good (and fail) but its ok that this class is way outside my comfort zone.  The focus of the class is on 4 amazing spanish painters (3 of which happen to be my all time favorites): Velazquez, Goya, Picasso and Dali, and we get to go to the Prado/Reina Sofia for class to study their masterpieces and their techniques.  I've already learned so much, and I spend a ton of time in museums anyway, so a class that takes us to museums/Retiro Park is great in my book.  So what if it brings down my GPA.  I've been loving this class and I'm really happy that I did take it in the end.  I look forward to this class each week, despite the drawing exercises.  The best part of my schedule is that I am done with my classes by lunch every day, which leaves me with a lot of free time to do things I want to do, like museums and site-seeing, and even day trips.

So far, I've started my tour of Spain in Andalucia (the south) and the area around Madrid (so far, El Escorial, which is a palace/burial ground for Spanish royalty).  I went to Sevilla for a weekend, which was incredible, and Granada for this past Friday (12 hours on a bus, 12 hours straight walking the city and then hitting the Alhambra...its truly amazing).  In the future, I have plans to go to Morocco and Amsterdam in November, and Barcelona and el Pais Vasco also.  I originally thought I'd spend a lot of time outside of Spain on weekends since I've already done some traveling within Spain, but honestly, this country is incredible and I'm so lucky to be here, so I don't regret my decision to spend a lot of time within Spain.  Additionally, I'm going to a partido de Real Madrid v. AC Milan, and I've already bought a scarf, shirt, flag, facepaint and nosebleed tickets so I'm all prepared to embrace this aspect of Spanish culture too...  Unfortunately, all the travel is incredibly expensive, even within Spain (damn Euros).  But since I would rather be in debt than miss out on what Europe has to offer, I'm cutting down on my chip addiction (Tex-Mex Doritos are incredible, unfortunately) and haven't really bought many souvenirs (I did buy a mini-drum in Granada, but it had salamanders on it, so that was totally justified).  Also, the student discount thing comes in handy in getting in to museums, which is very important.  And there are luckily a lot of free things to do in Madrid, like huuuge parks (we found a zoo!  with baboons and dolphins and gazelles), random museums (Anden 0) and plazas.  I just wish the time wasn't passing so fast!

More later.  I promise.  :)

Photo Update

More on France at another point in time, but as of now, we are in Barcelona!  It's been great to be back here and wandering the streets of the city.  We are living right off La Rambla, on the block next to the fabulous Boqueria (market) and within walking distance of the highlights of the Gothic Quarter, Picasso Museum, Gaudi houses and the beach.  In some ways it even kind of feels like New York.

I know that I'm going to love every minute of living in Spain.

I've been taking lots of pictures (my brand new Canon S90 is perfect for this trip) and I wanted to upload a few of them for now, since I haven't posted any online yet.  But as good as this camera is at capturing the moments, there is nothing like being there...

Here are some pictures from this incredible journey so far.

Florence:
We spent a few days in Florence seeing as much of the city (basically the art) as we could possibly cram in the time we had for exploring...

The Arno river was beautiful, and we walked along some of the bridges throughout the time we spent in Firenze.  The coolest bridge is Ponte Vecchio, where they have jewelry shops lining the bridge itself.  The Duomo and the baptistery were nice (I loved the gates on the outside of the baptistery, including the famous "Golden Gates"), but the views from the tower were kind of disappointing, especially after Venice.  Still, one goes to Florence for the art and that was obviously fantastic.

So, I didn't get to take a picture of the real "David," since my sneaky picture taking skills were a bit rusty, but this is a replica is in the Piazza where the masterpiece used to stand before it moved indoors to the Accademia.  Still so awesome.  In addition to Michelangelo's unfinished(?) sculptures, including "The Slaves," there was a really good collection of sculptures/casts for grave monuments in a side room, an exhibit on medieval Romantic love, and a collection of rare musical instruments, including some beautiful violins and pianofortes.  We also hit the Palazzo Vecchio, which is where this "David" replica stands.

We got to the Uffizi early to avoid crazy lines and get in without being stuck to a scheduled time/paying the annoying booking fee...and it was a pretty quick line once the museum actually opened at 8:30 (we got there at 8, got in within 45 minutes aka 15 minutes after opening).  Unlike the Accademia, it was extremely efficient.  Later on in the day, tons of street vendors and those awesome mimes (they get very creative, and related their costumes to the art collection) line the area around the Uffizi from the Piazza to the bridge.  Unsurprisingly, the normally crowded square was pretty empty at this early morning pre-museum time...

Firenze had a lot of amazing people that it lays claim to, and how cool is it that they can say, Dante lived/walked here, etc.  There's also a very nice church where a number of incredible people are buried, including Machiavelli, Galileo, Michelangelo, and needless to say, I was a little starstruck.

Siena:
The next stop was highly recommended, but we didn't realize how awesome this place was, since it isn't as well known as Florence.  Even coming in, you could see the charm of the place, with windy streets that spiral inward and a great atmosphere.  But in terms of what we got to see, we barely made it out of the cathedral.  It was amazing.  It's pretty and quirky, and even the floor is an incredible work of art.  I highly recommend Siena (including over Florence) for anyone going to Northern Italy.

The entire floor is composed of different mosaics and scenes...here's an example:

 

Pisa: 
Pisa was supposed to be an hour tourist stop on the road between Florence and the coast, but we got out of Florence really late, loved Siena too much to leave earlier, and ended up having a tense drive along the winding mountain roads through the hills of Tuscany, past huge cliffs and beautiful hilltop villages.  Luckily, a serious of fortunate events occurred in Pisa, which left us both with an unexpectedly good impression of the area (not that we saw all that much besides the main attraction, but still).  We ended up staying at a great hotel right near the famous leaning tower completely by accident (Hotel Athena...definitely recommended).  Plus, we ate pizza in Pisa and when my dad forgot my passport at the restaurant after an exhausting day and late dinner, the waiters were incredibly sweet and generally amazing about it.  And I got adopted by the most adorable tiny cat who roamed around the base of the Tower, and it attached itself to my leg as I was taking pictures of the buildings.

 

Hopefully this precarious monument doesn't go the way New Hampshire's poor 'Old Man in the Mountain' did... Apparently scientists are working to reduce the tilt so that it falls over at a much later time.  We saw some wires running along the back length.  Of course, my first impression was that it wasn't tilted enough, but it's actually pretty interestingly angled.  And though not as famous, the baptistery and duomo were pretty neat too, with the same style of architecture, but less of a tilt.


Italian Riviera: 

We stopped here for lunch and hit the beach... we were mesmerized by the contrast of the colorful umbrellas lining the beach, the deep blues of the sea and the sky, and the backdrop of those mountains.  It was painful to leave this beautiful beach because it was just incredible.  I don't think I've ever naturally seen such colors and pictures definitely don't do it justice. 

Cinque Terre:
The views here were pretty spectacular...    

What a beautiful area.  Unfortunately we didn't have the time to do the hike around the cliffs between all the five different parts of Cinque Terre, but we did get to explore the area around the middle of the Cinque Terre.  Since there are no cars in the village itself and we had to park at the top of the cliff, we walked down (and back up) the windy road.  This actually was certainly no easy stroll, but provided more than enough breathtaking views to make it worthwhile.  We got to watch the sun set over the cliffs and the sea/sky turned vivid shades of blue and purple.  I could spend all day gazing at these views... There is so much beauty in the world.

italy >>>> monaco >>>> france

Train station in Milan was sooooo cool.  That's pretty much all I saw of Milan, though.  I didn't really mind not seeing much of Milan.  I wish we had time to see the Duomo there, but other than that, I didn't really have any other sights that I wanted to see there, so it was not a big loss.  The train we took leaving Italy reminded me of Hogwarts Express (yes, I realize that that's how some of the world regularly travels, but I still got really excited about the compartments and the food trolley).  We generally had an easy trip once we got the hang of the assigned seating and general disorganization for transferring.  We met some awesome people on the trains too, and we got excellent views of the sea/villages/mountains throughout the entire coast.  We stayed in Nice during our time in France and our hotel was extremely convenient, as it was located right by the train station, and within walking distance of the beach.

I'll upload more pictures at another time, but for now here is a few from France/Monaco too:

Monaco (Monte-Carlo):
We passed through the very unglamorous train stop on the way to Nice the first night, but on the day we went east from Nice, we hit it up.  Also, got the very best sorbet/gelato I've ever had here.  Well, I didn't go inside the infamous casino, but I kind of want to rewatch "Casino Royale" now.  It was a very interesting area (2nd smallest country in the world after the Vatican, and yes, they have royal palace guards).  Had some very futuristic buildings mixed with huge buildings cut out from the land and there was a walkway along the water that had some footprints of famous futbol players (among other athletes).  There were a lot of yachts in the harbor and some paparazzi roaming around too.  The fountains in front of the casino were great and I was tempted to go fountain hopping, but somehow I don't think that would have been appreciated in this ritzy area.

 

France:
I might not be allowed to make any french jokes ever again because the country is fantastic.  I had no idea how great the Côte d'Azur is before this trip, but I'm kind of in love with it now.


Antibes & Cannes:
We went west the next day along the coast, stopping whenever we saw some great views.  One of the places that we stopped was on La Route Napoleon, where Napoleon landed in 1815.  Hit the gorgeous beach in Antibes, right under the ramparts for some downtime.  Plus, they have a Picasso museum.  Walking along the water on La Croisette at Cannes was another highlight.  It was so picturesque, even if the evening lights were a little tacky, and the theatre where the Cannes Film Festival is actually pretty ugly compared with all the other architecture along the waterfront.  There are handprints of lots of famous people lining the area around the Palais des Festivales.  The sculptures throughout the waterfront area and the natural beauty kept us entertained...plus, the water just sparkles.

 

Nice:

  

  

  

A Brief Recap

Soooooo.  Its been a while since I've had internet, because we've either been too busy or too tired, or the hotel didn't have WiFi, which is really annoying actually.  And so, this blog has been neglected in the meantime.  So pictures will come at some other time because i don't really have much patience.  Since Venice (and briefly driving through Milan at night....the only thing we saw was this really cool palace, some designer shops and lots of gelato places), we have been to:

Florence
Siena
Pisa (we briefly passed through Volterra on the way there)
Italian Riviera
Cinque Terre (Montereggio)
Nice
Monaco (Monte-Carlo)
Antibes
beaches of Cagnes d Sur
Cannes
Avingnon (and we briefly drove through Aix en Provance, passing by the most famous block and Deux Garcons, where Cezanne and Zola hung out)
and now currently Barcelona (but we were too busy exploring Nice/the beautiful Côte d'Azur to plan ahead and apparently there is not a single room available for Saturday night in all of Barcelona.  fml)

Basically, anything on the Mediterranean has been incredible (on the Italian and French sides), and we got to see the coast from the train windows as we traveled too.  I don't think I've seen more vivid colors naturally anywhere...

Nice was our home base for exploration in France (one day we went east, one day west, the other realllyy far away, and the last Nice itself) and I adored it.  It was a really fun city (lots of love for neon), with lots of good food (amazing Indian), plus great (pebble) beaches right at one end of town.  I loved the fact that the city was so full of art, from the amazing museums (we hit three in one day) to the art decorating the public squares and tramways (including the Arc de 115.5 degrees, blacklights under bridges, glowing people, and a really mischievous fountain).  We hit the Matisse museum, the Marc Chagall, and the MAMAC (the Museum of Modern Art) which had the coolest balcony set up).  Nice had a great vibe (plus, beautiful blue sea) and I could definitely see myself living there, if it weren't for the whole language barrier thing.  My knowledge of french is limited to the essentials (merci, bonjour, sortie, 1-3, gare, pardon, interdit, danger) and completely inappropriate phrases from the "Moulin Rouge"!  It was a lot easier to understand Italian, obviously.  Next time, I'm bringing someone fluent with me so they can translate all the museum displays!  We got to see a lot of the area, such as the outside of the casino at Monte-Carlo and the celeb group hanging out there, the famous promenade in Cannes (my favorite part: a public telephone shaped like film), the bridge that inspired a nursery rhyme and the Popes' palace in Avignon, the old city in Antibes and a beach by the ramparts.  Probably the best part, besides the beaches, was the most spectacular hiking trails along the Grande Corniche, with views of the sea and the mountain ranges, plus some blackberries for me to eat along the way.

Up until Nice, we surprisingly haven't hit many museums, besides the two major ones in Florence.  That's because most of the places we visited had other sights to see (like, the entire city of Venice, the coast, or the most incredible cathedral I've ever seen in Siena).  The Uffizi wasn't as impressive as it probably should have been...I was left with a "that's it?" kind of feeling, but maybe I've just been spoiled on amazing museums (all the NYC ones, Prado/Reina Sofia, Louvre, Tate, Victoria & Albert).  Still, it was a great museum and I enjoyed getting to see works such as "Venus of Urbino, "the Birth of Venus," the ceiling frescoes, Caravaggio's Medusa, and Da Vinci's unfinished "Adoration of the Magi."  The wait for the Uffizi wasn't that bad, but the wait for the Accademia was ridiculous.  Some poor girl even fainted in line and people just jumped over her.  We were there for hours, because the line was deceptively short because they only let in a few people at a time for every 20 minutes.  Additionally, Florence museums are stingy towards students...most museums give student discounts, but in these two, only EU citizens can get discounts, even if you are studying in an EU school.  But seeing Michelangelo's masterpiece made it all worth it.  Holy shit, his "David" is really impressive.  You walk in and it commands your attention, from any angle.  It stood by itself in the room because nothing could really compare to it.  The pictures definitely don't do it any justice....just the presence of the work was incredible.  Plus, a few other works by Michelangelo were displayed in the same area of the museum and I am now firmly convinced that Michelangelo is probably the most talented artist ever.  All over Florence there is some incredible art (and sculptures...lots of naked marble men all over haha).  Unfortunately, the city itself is a bit gloomy as it used to be a fortress.  Got to see Sarah and together we saw a concert with a group of drag queens doing some sort of rock musical which was hilarious.

Other artistic highlights included the Siena cathedral which we hit next....which had the coolest mosaic stone floors, busts of every pope along the rafters, beautiful paintings everywhere and basically something to look at wherever your eyes landed.  From Siena, we ended up in the mountains, going quickly through Volterra along windy, scary roads in the dark with some very tense moments, until we stopped for the night in Pisa.  We had a very pleasant experience in Pisa, from finding a really nice hotel at the last minute for a really great price, to having the waiters wait after closing time for me when my dad accidentally left his bag with my passport under the table (and they even gave me a glass of water after I ran back).  Cinque Terre was the highlight, though.  More later.  We survived the crazy roundabout turns on the streets of Italy (instead of U-turns, because the signs are so damn confusing), the drivers who slow down to 80 km/hr on hairpin turns, and got to see the Alps, the sea, and a number of gorgeous sunsets (on the Arno river in Florence, on the winding roads of the Cinque Terre, and against the tiny cliffside villages of Toscany countryside).

Sooooo thats a small part of what has been going on so far.  I guess todays theme was art.  I'm really tired (we basically traveled all day long and walked through half of Barcelona to find the hotel) so if none of this makes any sense, that's my bad.  Hopefully I will put up pictures sometime soon because i've been taking a ton with my brand new beautiful camera.  haha.  Until next time!  xx

EDIT: we have a hotel room after the scare last night, so no homelessness will have to happen haha.  Actually we really lucked out and have a great place with a perfect location (right by the Boqueria, La Rambla, and the Gothic Quarter).  I love this city.

VENEZIA

So Venice is beautiful.  Some people love it, and others absolutely hate it.  I’m definitely one of those that has fallen for this unique place.  Figured I should put up some pictures to share its beauty! 


The bridges were all so unique.  There’s the main ones across the grand canal (the prettiest is the Rialto bridge which is that white one behind me and my dad as we traversed the Grand Canal), and then there are the smaller ones connecting streets or sometimes leading directly into buildings. 

 My first views of the city were at night…I think it’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen.  It's all SO PRETTY. 

The Doge’s Palace/Palazzo Ducale is right by the most popular area of Venice, Piazza de San Marco and has one of the coolest bridges in Venezia, called the Bridge of Sighs (tragically romantic…its where the condemned prisoners got their last look at their beloved city).  Unfortunately, its under restoration so there's a giant billboard advertisement on the outside, which is awkward.  The Palace also has some pretty awesome rooms.  There is a ton of interesting stuff in this Palace/Museum, including dungeons, HUGE paintings, and beautiful statues.  The view out of the Bridge of Sighs:

 Forget St. Marks Square, this Basicala Santa Maria della Salute was breathtaking.  It stands out and the inside is just as pretty.  Somehow in all the churches we visited, they closed as we were were leaving, and we even got to see a part of a service here.  This is also located right where the Grand Canal ends on this side, so that’s really cool to be able to walk right up to the edge.  Venice is kind of shaped like a fish!

They also really like lions in Venezia.  It’s a symbol of the city, and they are EVERYWHERE.  It was pretty funny to see lions decorating a ton of buildings, including palaces, door knockers, water fountains, statues, and clocks.  This is at the Arsenale.

 The above three pictures where taken during the Regata Storica.  The races after the first parade were kind of long, but it was incredible to see boats of all shapes, sizes and colors going up and down the canals.  They shut down transportation services and basically the city comes to a halt to watch.  People came out and lined the streets, balconies, docks, and even parked boats to watch this historical procession that occurs every first Sunday in September.  A bunch of people dress in costume and ride elaborate boats, and others come representing things, such as a church or even America.  It was really cool to see how the locals greeted certain competitors as they came back after their races, or cheered them on, or wore certain colors for their teams.  There was even a pink “Just Married” boat!  

It's Italy.  Getting gelato is basically a requirement.  This is fico, pera, e lampone.  YUMMY.

Gondolas.  Ok, so they are totally a tourist trap now, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t beautiful and pretty awesome to watch as they maneuver down the canals.  It got a little bit old after seeing them everywhere, but only just by the tiniest bit.  It was especially funny when you saw the ones that serenaded the passengers at the same time.  One gondolier pointed out Mozart’s house to everyone as we were crossing the bridge.  Plus, it was hilarious to see that Italians get into traffic jams even on canals.

So one thing I've learned is that I really like looking at domes.  Not sure why, but I think they are the coolest architectural aspects of the cities in Italy so far.  I’m a little bit obsessed.  We went to the Belltower overlooking the city and got some amazing views.  Needless to say, we stayed up there for a while, watching the sun set over the water and buildings.  And we even got the special treat of being there when the bells tolled, leaving everyone almost deaf or cringing in pain.  I’ll upload the video I took of that sometime.

 You never know what you are going to stumble across as you wander through the maze that is Venice.

And of course: St. Mark's (currently under construction, unfortunately, but still impressive). Playing with the pigeons is apparently a tradition, but I am not a fan of these ugly creatures so I didn't let any of them land on me. Haha.

Now I am currently in Florence (not for much longer though…off to Siena, Pisa, and Milan next). Since Florence is the art capital of the world, we hit the big museums: the Uffizi and the Accademia (to see Michelangelo’s “David,” plus some beautiful instruments, etc) as well as palaces, churches and the tombs of Macchiavelli, Galileo, Dante and Michelangelo. “David” was pretty much incredible and definitely my favorite. Plus, in addition to all the sight-seeing, I got to meet up with Sarah while I was here! Will update on Florence next time. :) xx